James Madison Papers
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To James Madison from Nicholas P. Trist, 31 January 1827

From Nicholas P. Trist

Tufton January 31. ’27

Dear Sir

I send, with the request that they be returned when you shall have done with them, a couple of Harmony papers, containing some articles on the subject of gymnastics.1 The flattering reports brought up by Genl. Cocke on the prospects of further assistance from the legislature, and the consequent probability that it will be in the power of the Bd. to do something on the subject, has revived my anxiety to see it taken into serious consideration. I am myself fresh from the literary institutions of the country, & have just had experience of what they are deficient in; and so high is my sense of the importance of this branch, of the advantages of attention to it & of the evils of its neglect, that if I had to choose between a teacher of gymnastics and an additional professor or two, I should not hesitate a moment in prefering the former. I speak also from experience when I say that no mistake could be greater than to suppose military exercises a substitute for the former. To these I was subject a twelvemonth, without deriving any sensible benefit from them: indeed, they consist of but standing, walking, together with a few motions of the arms; and all this in very constrained & confined situations. Whereas the systematic culture of every muscle of the body is attended by benefits almost immediately sensible & universally attested. The effects, almost incredible, of the public gymnasium lately established in Boston were announced in the “medical intelligencer,” almost coevally with its opening.2 As a confirmation of my opinion concerning the total inadequacy of military exercises, the late report of the Bd. of examiners at West-point recommends the establishment of a gymnasium there as an indispensable appendage to the institution.3

We received today flattering accounts from Washington. The prospect of success in incorporating the lotteries is very good. Mr Hayne of So. Ca. was to move on the subject in the Senate, last monday.4

Mr Johnson has just written, calling in a great hurry for a copy of the enactment, or more properly projèt, concerning the University Court. This, you will recollect, formed part of the proceedings in October last,5 of which both he & Mr Cabell were furnished with a copy which they took with. From Mr J’s letter, I am inclined to believe that he has forgotten that this paper is contained in the Oct. proceedings, & that he has now in his desk the very thing he is so anxiously looking for from Charlottesville. Ever yours

N. P. Trist

It seems that Mr Giles has not emerged from the Wigwam for nothing!6 Considering our federal politics of far more pressing importance, at this moment, than those of the state, such services as he aspires to render would more than compensate in my mind for Any effect his exertions may have had against the Convention bill.

RC (ViHi: Nicholas P. Trist Album Book). Cover docketed by JM.

1Two articles titled “Gymnastics” were published in the 13 and 27 December 1826 issues of the Indiana New-Harmony Gazette.

2See, for example, William B. Fowle, “The Animal Mechanism and Economy,” Boston Medical Intelligencer 4 (1826): 196–99, on establishing a gymnasium and conducting gymnastic exercises.

3See the “Report of the committee on the general condition of the Military Academy, offering suggestions, &c., for its improvement,” 20 June 1826, ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States […] (38 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1832–61). description ends , Military Affairs, 3:375, 378, 380.

4In the U.S. Senate on 29 January 1827, Robert Y. Hayne presented the petition of Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Thomas Jefferson’s executor, for an “act of Congress, giving authority to the Corporation of Washington to connect the Jefferson Lottery with those they are now authorized by law to establish.” On Hayne’s motion, the petition was referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia (Register of Debates in Congress, 3:165–66).

6William Branch Giles (1762–1830), a 1781 graduate of the College of New Jersey, was a Virginia lawyer and zealous anti-Federalist who served in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1790–98 and 1801–3 (see his 1793 resolutions against Alexander Hamilton, PJM-RS description begins David B. Mattern et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Retirement Series (4 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 2009–). description ends , 1:605–7, 621 n. 24). In 1804 he entered the U.S. Senate, where he supported the Jefferson administration. Though he backed JM in the 1808 presidential election, Giles soon bitterly opposed the administration. Giles retired from the Senate in 1815. By 1824, as a champion of states’ rights, he was writing newspaper assaults on the tariff and internal improvements. In 1826 he served in the Virginia Assembly. Giles was governor of Virginia, 1827–30. His home, Wigwam, was in Amelia County, Virginia.

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